Design and synthesis of novel MOF-based materials: tailoring functional properties for advanced applications
Date: Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Time: 10.30 AM
Venue: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB, CSIC) - Sala d'Actes Carles Miravitlles
Abstract
Since their discovery in the late 1990s, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have revolutionized the world of porous materials, driving an exponential research growth that continues today. Due to their exceptional porosity and unique chemical versatility, MOFs have demonstrated significant potential across diverse applications, e.g., gas adsorption and separation, drug delivery, sensing, electronics, catalysis, and water remediation, among others. However, their use remains largely confined to the academic sphere, as their widespread implementation still faces major challenges. Critical parameters hindering MOF commercialization and industrialization include their typical chemical instability, their costly and unsustainable synthetic routes, and their inherently fine powder form. To address these challenges, this thesis presents different novel MOF-based materials with tailored functional properties to explore key MOF applications, while overcoming barriers that decelerate their broad commercialization and widespread adoption. For this purpose, central strategies involve the rational design of specific MOF structures, as well as their functionalization and structuration into macroscopic systems. Sustainable processing approaches, particularly those leveraging supercritical CO2 (scCO2) technologies, are prioritized. The applications investigated here include: drug delivery, gas adsorption and separation, catalysis and water remediation.
Supervisors
- Concepción Domingo, ICMAB-CSIC, Spain
- Ana M. López-Periago, ICMAB-CSIC, Spain
PhD Comitte
- President: Maria José Cocero Alonso, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
- Secretary: Josep Puigmarti Luis, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
- Vocal: Luisa Maria Rocha Durães, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
University: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
PhD Programme: Chemistry
